Goal 3: The transport needs of the community are reduced and road conditions improved.

Goal 4: The community has access to a range of non-vehicular transport/movement corridors between housing and services.

Nimbin is located 35 kms away from the nearest regional centre (Lismore) and there is very little public transport. Addressing this issue will be paramount if we are to avoid becoming an isolated community and also to rediuce our most significant carbon footprint.

News and Updates...

Bus Routes and Timetables - the community identifed a need to collate all the bus and train timetables relevant to locals so that they can all be found in one place. See our website here.

Car Pooling - you can try and find a ride to share, or offer one, via Nimbin Hook Ups, a facebook page with iver 8000 members which works like a local classifieds on steroids, and includes stuff like buy and sell, wanted, lost dogs, injured wildlife, road closures, local flooding and car pooling/lifts/transporting of goods. A brilliant example of a local innovation to meet a community need.

NBN - National Broad Band Network - to the extent that we can increase the capacity of local businesse to operate remotely and on-line, local transport needs can also be reduced. Approriate connectivity is essential to this strategy. At present both mobile phone and broad band reception/connectivity in the Nimbin catchment area is patchy and inadequate. The NBN towers have been installed in Nimbin and have commenced operations.

Local Food - the more food we can produce locally, the lower our community food miles needs will be. See the Food Security tab for more info.

Nimbin Bus Extension - Did you Know? A full bus at peak hour takes 40 cars off the road (some of you will recognise this as a question from the 2012 7 Sibley St Trivia fundraising night). Even a smaller bus, taking 20 cars off the road, is significant in terms of reduced carbon emissions.

in 2011 and 2012 funding was provided by NSW Transport for a partnership between Wallers Bus Co and NNIC to trial additional daily buses between Nimbin and Lismore to provide better access to public transport for people travelling to work, study or appointments in Lismore. This was largely as a result of work done by Eugenie Stephens and the Nimbin Chamber of Commerce who organised a community transport survey and lobbied for the funds.

The trial was completed in June 2012. Wallers has continued a number of the additional bus runs.

Some interesting statisitics from the trial:

Overall, the use of all services slowly increased over the period, with utilisation of the 5.30pm Lismore-Nimbin run being the highest. Although the figures below are averages and reflect the slow initial uptake (and do not reflect the actual numbers of passengers in the final month, for example), they clearly demonstrate the need to increase numbers to ensure the viability of some of the bus runs. The majority of passengers were concession fare passengers, indicating a low uptake by working people. It would seem that car culture is deeply entrenched in the community as a result years of little or no access to public transport. Changing old habits will take some time! The cost of public transport to non concession card holders is high compared to metropolitan services, which also acts as a barrier to the uptake of public transport. The perception is that the bus fare is not low enough to make up for the loss of convenience of taking the car. As fuel prices continue to increase this is likely to change over time.

Total no of passengers travelling on the Bus Extension routes: 2,036

Lismore to Nimbin:

7.00 am service: total passengers - 156 - Average 3/week

4.20 pm service: total passengers - 208 - Average 4/week

5.30pm service: passengers - 1,040 - Average 20/week

Nimbin to Lismore:

7.30 am school holidays only service: total passengers 60 - Average 5/week